The European Commission refused to return import duties on Ukrainian grain, as requested by Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.
This was reported by the Minister of Agriculture of Poland, Czeslaw Siekierski, for Business Insider.
According to him, the opening of the European market for agricultural products from Ukraine can "completely destabilize" both the Polish and European markets in the future.
Therefore, the minister offers other ideas to protect the Polish market, including licensing of products entering Poland and the creation of Polish-Ukrainian technical groups that will normalize trade relations.
At the same time, Czeslaw Siekierski wants the European Commissionʼs resolution on extending duty-free trade with Ukraine until June 2025 to include a provision allowing "regional protective measures."
What is the problem?
After the start of the full-scale war, the European Union canceled all tariffs and quotas for the transit of Ukrainian grain. Farmers from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia lost hundreds of millions of euros due to the influx of Ukrainian grain into their markets. Then countries began to ban the import of Ukrainian grain, and the European Commission allocated funds to European farmers.
From May 2 until September 15, 2023, the European Commission officially banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. At the same time, there was a transit of Ukrainian products through their territory.
On July 17, 2023, Russia announced its withdrawal from the "grain agreement". Already on July 19, Russian troops attacked the port infrastructure of Odesa and the region, targeting grain and oil terminals. After that, Russia began systematically shelling Ukraineʼs grain infrastructure. This happens all the time. Last August, Ukraine announced temporary sea corridors for merchant ships, and then began attacking Russian ships. In January 2024, the spokesman of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenchuk, stated that the "grain corridor" in the Black Sea reached pre-war levels.
- Since November 6, Polish transporters have started a strike on the border with Ukraine, blocking three checkpoints for the passage of freight transport: "Korchova — Krakowiec", "Hrebenne — Rava-Ruska" and "Dorohusk — Yagodin". The main demand of carriers is to cancel the so-called transport visa exemption for Ukrainian international carriers. Polish farmers also blocked the border. They restricted the movement of trucks at the Shehyni-Medyka checkpoint, demanding subsidies for the purchase of corn and leaving the agricultural tax unchanged. Ukraineʼs economy lost at least €400 million (as of early December) due to the protests.